In his short 43 years on Earth, Chadwick Boseman had the opportunity to tell a lot of stories. Stories of importance, of determination, of Black excellence. From historical figures like Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall to fictional ones like King T'Challa, Boseman built a career out of bringing heroes to the big screen, humanizing their struggles as only he could.

And yet, that story he was waiting to tell—the one referenced above in a quote from a 2017 interview with The Huffington Post—would go untold by the man himself. As the shock of Boseman's death following a private, four-year battle with colon cancer continues to reverberate throughout Hollywood and beyond, that story—his story—is now his survivor's shared responsibility. It's left to his family, his friends, his fans—all of us, really—to tell, to keep alive.